Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-02-05
CRUELTY TO HINDU WIDOWS.
The Fast OF widowhood--w rithing in
an Agony of Thirst and Hunger.

The Fast OF Writing In
an Agony Of Thirst and Hunger.
The most severely felt injunction of
custom upon the widows Is that OF fast
ing for two days every month during
the whole period of her widowhood, that
is, till the last month of her life. The
observance is called ekadasi, which is
Sanskrit word meaning "the eleventh"
called from tie fact that the widow alb
stains from all food on the eleventh day
of each of the two 70. nights into which
the Hindu lunar month is divided. This
ekadasi is strict fast; nothing in the
shape OF, liquid or solid can be touched
by the widow; even drop of water is
forbidden to her for the whole of TWEEN
ty-lour hours ON those two days of the
month. There is no trace of this strin-
gent rule anywhere in the Vedas or in
the ancient literature of the Hindus.
Manu- enjoins system of frequent
abstinence, but nowhere in the Hindu
books Of old ON laws and observances
is it ordained that Hindu widow must
pass two days in every month with
out touching, even atthe risk of her
life, any food or water 1t is an inno-
walton of later date, as are great many
of the present customs and ceremonies
observed by the natives of India.
Under the joint family system of the
natives of India there are very few Hindu
houses where either a widowed daugh-
ter or a daughter-in-law can not be
found, and the sufferings of these young
widows on their ekadasi days are simply
beyond description. In the middle Of
the fasting day you will find the young
widowed daughter writhing in agony o
thirst and hunger, her aged mother sit
ting silently by her and shedding tear
at the pangs of her bereaved child, wht
can not, for fear Of shame and ridicule
even give vent to her feelings by TIN
only way left to her-by weeping; he
face is deadly pale through want o
food, her eyes are bleared with rackinl
pain, and her lips parched with terrible
thirst. Perhaps she hears the noise o
dropping water; she at once turns he
eyes towards it, she looks hard at it, bu
she dares not utter a word. She long
ingly watches the course of the water a
it reaches the courtyard; adog passes b.
and drinks of it, but she cannot touch II
She draws away her eyes from it an
nlutters to herself: @Ol what sin hav
we committed that God has made u
widows even worse than dogs!" Sh
casts look of despair at her mother
But the mother is helpless. The ord
nances of custom must be rigidly TO
lowed. Her heart breaks at the sight c
her daughters agonies, but the rules c
Shastras can not be broken. They sa
that it is written in the Shastras that tn
widow who drinks water mot to spea
of taking any food) and the person VIII
gives her water on the day of ekadai
are both damned to eternal perditioI
The timidly superstitious Hindu motht
can not dare the risk of the perpetu;
condemnation of her soul to hell for I'll
sake of alternating the sufferings of he
widowed daughter.
In many houses you will see an aget
invalid widow, lying PROSTATE on HI
fasting day, haggard and emaciated, h,
daughters sitting around her. 1t is I'll
middle of Indian summer; everything
blazing with torrid heat. The pc,
widow can hardly get up through az
and illness, and there on SO scorching
day she goes through her fast withol
touching particle of food or drop
water. The daughters are trying the
best to soothe and comfort her, but 81
lies almost in an insensible state. Ali
once her eyes open, she looks hard
one of her daughters and most beseec
ingly asks for little water. They loo
G at her helplessly and tell her: "Dei
mother, to day is ekadasi, water is fo
bidden." The wretched widow is in
state of delirium, she has lost her mer
Dry. Again and again she implores h
. daughters for drop of water, sayin
II am dying, pray give me water. TIT
can not bear this sight any more, tn,
burst into tears-but they dare not gra
: their mothers prayer. They only try
comfort her by saying that directly Il
- night passes away she shall have waite
But, alas! The night may not pass aw'
for the widow; perhaps she succumbs
her mortal thirst in a few hours, al
thus dies a victim to the custom of ma
-Devendran Das in Nineteenth &c
fury. .....